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GAO discussed its report on the potential effects of employer-mandated and universal health insurance proposals on the demand for Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care services. GAO noted that: (1) any program that would expand insurance coverage among veterans could substantially reduce the demand for VA-sponsored care; (2) demand for VA inpatient services could drop by 18 percent if employers nationwide were required to either provide health insurance coverage for workers or pay a tax, and under a nationwide universal health plan, demand could drop by 47 percent; (3) H.R. 5263 would authorize VA to recover from Medicare a portion of its costs of providing care to veterans and certain Medicare-eligible dependents and survivors of military retirees; and (4) it agreed with the objectives of the demonstration and identified no adverse risks to demonstration participants, but other factors could limit the ability of the demonstration to achieve its intended objectives.